Sunday in Chicago

Sunday, September 9^th

On this morning, Jennifer took all of the children (except Mary) to the Duncan Donuts (that is soooo close to her apartment) to pick up donuts and coffee for us to eat for breakfast. Do you know how much trouble I would be in if there was a Duncan Donuts this close to my house?!?!  What a major treat!  Then we loaded up (in 2 separate cars because there are THAT many of us) to go to the Museum of Science and Industry.  The drive was not difficult (which is always my concern about being in a big city) and we managed to park easily too. 

The first exciting thing we saw (while walking through the parking garage) was the Pioneer Zephyr train!!! I think Richard was most excited.  We looked at that while Jennifer scored the Chicago-resident discount for our admission tickets.  There were a zillion people at the museum and that is always a little unsettling when you’re trying to keep up with 4 children, but the kids were very excited! 

The highlights were: seeing a submarine INSIDE a building, a tornado, a massive train layout with the Chicago skyline and the Seattle Space Needle, a fairy castle, old town main street, an airplane, watching baby chicks hatch and climbing a rock wall.  We also ate lunch at the museum and Jennifer had to deal with work a bit.  Paul and Ruth touched every possible surface, ran their hands on every hand rail and Ruth even put her mouth on a handrail?!?!?!  We ended our visit with a trip to the gift shop for pressed pennies and souvenirs (coffee mug and magnets).

Upon our return to Jennifer’s apartment, we decided to walk to Chinatown for dinner.  It was about a mile walk (which was nothing compared to the walk the day before!) and a tiny part of it was a little sketchy…but fine.  The restaurant was very fun! Jennifer and Luke bravely ordered Peking Duck…much to the horror of Paul.  I wasn’t too sure about it either, but once the waiter carved it up, I was willing to try it and it was yummy!  We enjoyed using the Lazy Susan to pass things around the table.  Upon our walk back, Mary fell asleep in the stroller and we left her in it when we walked in the door of Jennifer’s apartment. 

Jennifer and I “ubered” to the hotel where Bree was staying for her conference and we met her for drinks in the lobby.  That was fun and unexpected for us to all get together far from home!  We also used Uber to get back…all very easy.  I was impressed…it was my first experience with Uber.  While we were having our sangria with Bree, Richard texted me that he wanted me to take a picture of this train bridge that is near Jennifer’s apartment…from the median in the middle of the street.  I told him I’d try to get Jennifer to agree to that.  As we stood in the median taking a selfie of us with the bridge in the background, Richard (who was watching from the balcony) called to gently tell us that he didn’t really want a picture of US with the bridge…just the bridge.  Jennifer and I laughed and laughed and laughed…we thought it was hilarious that we had interpreted the request to include us in the picture.

He preferred this:

To this:

Once back to our Chicago home, we finished up the poker game and went to bed.  Richard had done one more load of laundry, so we had maximum clean clothes.

Next up – our departure from Chicago and the drive to Louisville…

Mary's 12 Month Stats

Mary had her well-visit this week:

Weight: 20 pounds 7.5 ounces (60th percentile)
Height: 31 inches (93rd percentile)
Head Circumference 18.25 inches (82nd percentile)

For comparison sake:

Ruth at 12 months:

Weight 26 pounds 8 ounces (96th percentile)

Height 32 inches (98th percentile)

Head Circumference 18.5 inches (89th percentile)

Apparently, we did not take the boys to their 12 month appointment.  I'd imagine we took Luke, but I don't find those stats recorded in this blog...and I was blogging much more regularly then!  I did find a post about Paul's 15 month visit in which I mention that we didn't go to a 12 month visit. 

Mary is clearly our little one.

Her schedule is roughly:

She wakes for the day sometime between 7:00 and 8:00.  She may or may not eat much for breakfast and, once school starts (the boys are already back), she'll have to be carted along to take people to school.  She still nurses, so she'll get some milk before her nap.  She is ready for a nap about 2 hours after she wakes up and she usually naps for about an hour and a half.   About 3 hours after she wakes from her morning nap, she takes her afternoon nap and that lasts about an hour and a half also.  Finally, about 4 hours after she wakes from her afternoon nap, she's ready for bed.  She pretty reliably wakes up between 11:30 and 12:30 and, since she's the 4th and sleeps in our room...and it's just easier to get her back to sleep...I get up and nurse her.  Then, she pretty reliably wakes up between 3:00 and 5:00 and I nurse her again.  It is just that she goes back to sleep right away if I nurse her, so I do.  Plus, she's so tiny...clearly, she needs the calories!

She likes to play and look at books, but lately, she's stuck to Momma or Daddy like glue...as in will.not.let.us.put.her.down.  I don't know what that's all about.  Strangely, when we aren't at home...she wants to get down...like at church, for example.  You know - places you'd rather hold a small child in your lap.

Mary isn't walking.  She will walk with you if you hold her hand...or if you refuse to pick her up, she'll grab your legs and walk with you as you go about your business...all the while crying, of course.  She is starting to stand - unaided - for short bursts of time, so she's getting closer.  

All-in-all, Mary has a pretty chill personality and is generally fun to be around.  She's a cute little girl and we are happy to have her!

Trip Part 3

Friday, August 7 – Saturday, August 8

Illinois is 2 things…corn fields and Chicago.  That is all.  I actually began to get angry with the corn fields…they were never ending.  Oh, and there was construction on the interstate…and in Illinois, that means you come to a grinding halt after going 2 MPH for 45 minutes.  We finally got to Chicago around 8:00 pm.  I had been in contact with Jennifer and through all of our texting we made plans such that:

• She was waiting outside for us when we pulled up to her building
• She handed us a remote control for her space in her parking garage
• We were off the street and into her parking space in no time
• She had hot Giordano’s deep dish pizza waiting for us

We were all VERY happy and excited to see Jennifer standing there…we had missed her more than we even realized!

Her apartment is perfect and it was super-nice of her roommate to leave town so that we could take over the space.  We decompressed, ate deep dish pizza, visited, and marveled at the view from her balcony.  

I think we all go to bed around 10:00.

Saturday, we woke up and ate the cereal and bagels that Jennifer had bought for us and mapped out our day.  We were going to walk and soak up the city.  The first stop was Millennium Park and “The Bean” – which is really named Cloud Gate.  This is a reflection of the city in The Bean:

Actually, though, we stopped at Crown Fountain first.  The kids enjoyed watching the faces, but wanted to hop in the water, of course.  On the way to Millennium Park, we watched the first person in a left-turn lane NOT go when the people behind him thought they should…and a gut a few cars back jumped out and yelled (in a totally Chicago accent), “What are you waiting for?” – we felt like we were experiencing stereotypical Chicago!

After “The Bean” we headed over to Maggie Daley Park and the kids played while Jennifer and I visited.  After helping a lost little boy find his father, we walked over to Mariano’s grocery store and picked up lunch from the huge selection of grab and go. Richard and I had an incredible ham and cheese sandwich on a pretzel bun, Jennifer had a salad and the kids ate…Lunchables…and bologna at that.  I never let them get bologna at home…I do have Lunchable standards.

Then we began the trek to Lake Michigan. This brought us to the Chicago River, so it was a treat to get to see that!  

Once we arrived at the beach, Richard and the kids changed into their swimsuits in a port a potty and then jumped in the lake.  It was 80 degrees (and frankly kind of on the cool side), but there were tons of people soaking up the “summer”. By this point, Mary was conked out in her stroller, so Jennifer and I got a table at the outdoor “café”.  Also by this point, Jennifer’s work cell phone was exploding with emergencies which took her about 30 minutes to sort out.  I enjoyed my water (bottled) and ginger ale until Mary woke up and then she enjoyed my ginger ale and ice.  Eventually, Richard came over to get Mary, change her into her swimsuit and get her into the (in my opinion, freezing) Lake Michigan.  Once the required pictures were taken, we changed Mary back into her clothes and got the other children’s shoes back on their feet, but they walked home in their swimsuits. 

We intended to walk home via Navy Pier, but it looked to contain too much humanity for my patience level, so we crossed back over and walked by the marina.  We stopped for ice cream at a place where a small was 3 scoops.  3!  Turns out they were small scoops, but still!  We ate out ice cream and looked at sail boats…and then started walking.  We walked A TON…in fact, I got over 20,000 steps on the fitbit.  The kids didn’t really complain and we all had a great time.  Our return to Jennifer’s apartment took us past Buckingham Fountain and we piddled around the area long enough to see it at its maximum height.

Once back to Jennifer’s we all showered, I did our wash, we ate leftover deep dish pizza, watched movies and played poker (Luke was very excited to try his hand at Texas Hold ‘Em) until 10:15 when we watched the fireworks at Navy Pier…from Jennifer’s balcony.  It was a perfect end to an amazing day exploring Chicago.

Coming up – Sunday in Chicago!

Day 2 and Part of 3

Thursday, August 6^th

We ate a wonderful breakfast at our hotel.  They had all kinds of candy toppings for the waffles, so the kids had a ball with that.  We had to have yet another conversation about buffet rules…the kids tend to pile a TON of stuff onto their plates…you’d think they had been deprived of food thus far in their lives. Mary and I ate eggs, sausage and oatmeal. We left the hotel around 10:00 and headed for St. Louis (364 miles).

I think the ride was “regular” – meaning the kids played on their Kindles or with the various other things I’d packed in their bags, Mary napped and fussed and played games (like peekaboo and “what’s in the sunglasses case”) with me, and Richard drove.  We decided to stop for lunch (I think it was 1:30) in the biggest town we’d been through in a while – Pocahontas, AR.  The Pizza Hut advertised a buffet, but it had just ended, but as we pulled back onto the highway, we saw “Larry’s Pizza”…and decided to stop there.  Larry’s had a pizza buffet, but we were the only people there.  The waitress/cashier was very friendly and the pizza maker/owner told us he’d make us anything we want.  He then insisted on making a macaroni and cheese pizza that he said the kids will love.  He also made a fancy pizza with spinach for me and Richard.  The waitress made conversation with us most of the time (she lived in Wisconsin previously, her mother lives in Dallas, 3 hours more to St. Louis, etc.) and the kids eyed the video game room.  As the kids played some video games, the waitress disappeared and then the owner came out and told us that he’s heard we are on a long road trip and he wants to make us some pizzas for the road.  My mind immediately jumps to how impractical this will be…where will we put these pizzas and pizza in the car?!?!  What a mess!  I know that we cannot turn down this offer, so we settle on a dessert pizza and a hamburger pizza.  They also packed up the rest of the buffet!  We got back in the car - 3 pizza boxes heavier.

We arrived at our hotel in downtown St. Louis around 5:30 and marveled at our view:

We knew we wanted to make it to Chicago a bit earlier the next day, so we decided to visit the Gateway Arch (or, as Ruth calls it, The Gateway of Arch) that evening.  The walk was about 4 long blocks and we purchased tickets to ride the pod to the viewing area at the top.  I was a little concerned because I’d read that it could feel claustrophobic and I have trouble when I feel like the air is thick and space is tight…oh, and I don’t really like heights either.  It was all fine!  The pod, while small, was well ventilated and had cool air blowing in.  The top was substantial and I didn’t feel like the height was frightening.  The view was exceptional!  After our time at the top, we stopped by the gift shop to blow time until the 9:00 showing of the “making of the arch” movie.  Clearly, this was going to be a late night…we hadn’t even eaten dinner yet (we had not eaten the pizzas, but they were in the refrigerator in our hotel room).  The movie was clearly made in the 1970s as it had the production elements of Starsky and Hutch, Hart to Hart, etc.  The people building the arch wore NO harnesses, several wore no shirts, and most of them had a cigarette hanging out of their mouths while working.  What in the world was OSHA doing?!  We got back to the hotel around 10:00 and decided to eat at the pub attached to the hotel.  I ran up to the room to get some baby food for Mary and then burned my mouth on a french fry.  Thankfully, the mouth heals quickly.  I think we were all in bed by 11:15, but had to be up to make the 10:15 am river boat tour (that we decided we needed to do while here)…and we wanted to eat the breakfast buffet first!

Friday, August 7th

The breakfast buffet was not as great as the previous hotel.  The food was similar, but there were a lot more people.  I like things designed for a lot of people, but when a lot of people aren’t there.  It is a bit hectic to get food for 4 children…and yourself…and then be peppered with, “can I have some more juice”, “I forgot to get milk for my cereal”, “I don’t like the eggs”, etc. as Mary decides to pick up her sausage bites and drop them to the floor.  This breakfast was quick and we headed out to the river boat cruise.  The kids mostly hated it…it was boring, Paul was extremely upset (and tired) that he could NOT understand what the captain was saying over the loudspeaker, it was Mary’s nap time, but she wasn’t going to go to sleep OR sit still, the sun was beating down on our heads, etc.  Richard and I thought the tour was interesting…the captain basically pointed out different architectural things and information about barges and shipping on this part of the Mississippi River.  It was just all brought down a bit by the constant wrestling with Mary and complaining of Ruth and Paul.  Luke was fine.

We had requested a late checkout and I think we left the hotel at 1:00.  On the river boat cruise, we had learned that one of the bridges over the Mississippi into Illinois was closed for repairs.  As I loaded up the map to Chicago…the map wanted us to take that bridge.  Never fear, we figured out how to get across a different way and we headed to Chicago…later than we had wanted, but…when might we have another chance to ride a river boat on the Mississippi River?  We had to do that…even if Richard and I were the only ones who enjoyed it…and that joy was brought down a few notches by the un-joy of the children!

Next up – CHICAGO! 

Road Trip Day 1

Wednesday, August 5^th (which was our 15^th anniversary)

We pulled out of the driveway at 11:50 am…approximately 2 hours later than I’d intended…this is typical for us, so not an indication of a catastrophe.  Six of us were loaded into the 2003 Dodge Ram Quad Cab…which we took because, upon our return, it would be (and it is currently!) up for sale and Ruth was sad about that.  This meant we had A LOT of togetherness while on the road.  We had a reservation at a hotel near Little Rock, AR, so that meant we had approximately 400 miles to drive. 

We ate lunch in the car (from Texas Burger, but not the same chain that I grew up with…I’m pretty sure – this Texas Burger’s claim to fame is that they sell Nolan Ryan beef hamburgers) and everyone was pretty good in the truck.  Mary napped, we listened to music, the kids played on their Kindles and with the sticker book I gave each of them later in the afternoon. 

As we drove through Marshall, TX, Richard noticed a clanking noise coming from the right front of the truck.  We pulled into a dirt parking lot and he had me drive while he stood outside to listen.  He thought it might be a bad rotor.  As luck (Divine Intervention) would have it, we were right next to a mechanic shop.  Richard pulled around and asked if he could borrow a floor jack.  One of the mechanics brought one over and helped Richard (with power tools) determine it was just that the brake was missing some spacer to keep the brake pad from hitting something or other…the gist is that it is not a big deal!  This is a relief! 

We got back on the road and made it to our hotel around 7:00 and unloaded ourselves. We have packing down to a science.  We have this BIG “contractor’s box”:

I pack each child’s day of clothes (shorts, shirt, socks, underwear) in a gallon Ziploc.  We brought 4 days of clothes, so there are all of these gallon Ziplocs in this container.  Richard and I pack loose things (like socks and underwear) in gallon Ziplocs, but our clothes are, otherwise, folded. We can get everything into this big box…which has a pull-out handle and wheels.  We also had a pack-n-play and a bedroll (so all 6 of us can sleep in one hotel room).  Each of the children had his/her own “car bag” that they had to bring in.  Amazingly, we can get all of this into the hotel room in one trip. 

I always felt a bit duplicitous as I’d get out of the car and go check in.  Then, a few minutes later, this huge brood of a family walked in pulling this huge box, etc.  We are a large presence!

After we got the truck unloaded and the beds all set up, we found a local Italian restaurant at which to eat.  I think we finally got to bed around 9:30…maybe closer to 10:00.  Our room had 2 Queen beds…Richard and I in one, Luke and Paul in the other, Ruth on the bedroll and Mary in her pack-n-play.  We decided that the kids would rotate who slept on the floor and whoever slept on the floor got to push the elevator buttons. 

The next installment will include Thursday, August 6^th – the road to St. Louis!

Wrapping Up the Regular Season - Moving Forward

Last Wednesday night, Luke's game went into extra-innings because the teams were tied at the end of time, but one team had to emerge victorious...the parents were getting upset by, what they considered bad calls and we were all exhausted when the game ended at 10:15...it started at 7:15. Previously, I'd not seen parents get worked up, but this time, yes. I calmly told one mom that she needed to walk away from behind home plate because the things she was yelling would only serve to antagonize the ump and that would not go well for the kids. Plus, she doesn't want her son (who was playing catcher) to see her acting this way. She did walk away. I also told a father basically the same thing and then we calmly talked and I let him tell me what he was upset about. I told him I totally understood, I saw it that way too, etc. Good grief! When we won the game, our kids were so happy and the other team’s kids were all crying. It was CRAZY. We didn't get home and in bed until 11:00. We have all been sick...upper-respiratory...congestion and tiredness...these baseball games aren't helping either. Luke’s team lost the next game, but I don't think anyone was too torn up about it. They ended the regular season in 5th place (which seeded them into the tournament) and, through tournament play, ended the season in 3rd place, so they moved themselves up. Plus, they exacted revenge on the Yankees and I think that was an important thing to them.

Friday, Ruth had her last tee ball game and Uncle Richard and Aunt Kathy came. Saturday was closing ceremonies at which Richard was the impromptu Master of Ceremonies. Sunday, Luke had to try out for All-Stars because they had 32 kids sign up for 24 slots. Only 20 kids showed up for try outs, so they all made the team (there are 2 teams).  Instead of saying, “See you for practice tomorrow”, they went ahead and took the kids through tryouts, but had NO mechanism for recording data to come up with any way to distinguish the skills of one over the other.  This was highly frustrating for Richard (who is coaching, but not managing).  While Luke and Richard were at tryouts, I took Paul, Ruth and Mary to Paul’s end of the season baseball party, then we all met up at church where Luke and Paul were altar servers.  Then it was off to Paul’s All Star baseball practice (where Paul his a home run during the scrimmage). 

Cub Scout Day Camp started yesterday – Luke, Paul, Ruth and Richard went…Ruth could go because Richard is volunteering.  They came home having had a good time, but were tired.  We made Paul lie down and rest because he had a baseball game at 6:00 – the game was canceled due to rain. They are thinking they'll start the tournament on Thursday now and reschedule all the games. We've been told to expect "multiple games on Saturday and Sunday" - fine. Luke's age group (still haven't decided on teams yet) did practice last night and, according to Richard, Luke did well at practice.

Day Camp was canceled today and tomorrow - too much rain and bad weather possibility from Tropical Storm Bill. The boys (and Ruth) were bummed and they are now ALL home ALL day. They are all wearing their day camp t-shirts and I've bitten my tongue and let them do it...even though that means I'll have to wash them again...I had just washed them to have them ready for this morning. 

Baseball, Baseball, Baseball

School is out.  The boys had their last day last Friday.  We've been attempting to get into a routine, but we are still in the thick of baseball season, so we are at the ball park most evenings.  Richard took the boys (on Monday) up to the field and got out the pitching machine so they could have batting practice.  Luke has been in a bit of a slump.  Poor kid (sarcastically said), his batting average is probably .560 or so....still good.  I pointed that out to him...that the pros have a much lower batting average than he's had.  We threw the ball in the back yard this morning.  I threw him fly balls, ground balls, etc.  He is MUCH better than he was when he started, but he still needs to catch and throw more consistently.  

Paul has hit the ball 5 of his last 6 at bats, so he seems to be doing better with that.  Richard is the manager of Paul's team and he has several players who just don't seem to want to actually play.  It is a bit frustrating for him.  In the last game, in two different innings, two different kids ASKED to play catcher (this is machine pitch and stealing is not allowed, so the catcher is only there to 1) try to catch the pitch and throw it back to the coach at the machine and 2) to try to tag the runner at home).  After a batter or two, we'd look over and there would be no catcher!  Each boy just didn't like it, so got up and left the position!  The even more frustrating thing...the other coaches (one in the dugout or one actually backs up the catcher) didn't even suit another kid up or call time or anything. 

Luke has his last regular season game (thank goodness we had a day off this week - yesterday - these poor kids played 5 games in a row...and we started to lose because we don't have that many pitchers...no team does, but we got especially rooked because of the rain outs and where our games feel) and then the end-of-season tournament starts.  Then - if Luke makes the "B" All-Stars team, we have the All-Stars tournament the next week...which means we'll have a hella lot of All Stars practice in there as well.  If he makes the "A" team, then he'll have longer to practice before that tournament.  

Ruth is getting better at t-ball!  She can hit the balls the coach pitches (the majority of the time) instead of using the T.  Yesterday, she played a very focused game...we were impressed.  She is at science camp in the mornings this week.  She is enjoying all of her time at the ball park.  There are always other little kids around and they tend to play together.  She has discovered that, if she goes to the concession stand and asks for a trash sack, she can go around the park picking up trash and then get a free sno-cone in return.  She sometimes does this twice in one game.

Mary has cut her first tooth and I am trying to remember to feed her!  She doesn't demand it too much, but I need to get her into her high chair for at least 2 meals a day. She is being rather good-natured about all of her time at the ball park (and the lateness of her getting to bed because of it)!

Summer Preview

Let's see...Ruth had her last day of preschool this past Friday and the boys have their last day this Friday. So far as I can tell, this week is pretty much a blow off week for them, so if we didn't care about the end-of-year awards ceremony, we could be at the beach this week (when it is the cheaper pre-summer rate), but we care (and don't have that kind of money anymore...since I don't work full-time and we have school tuition to pay).

Everyone still has baseball through the first 2 weeks of June (Luke has a tournament at the end of the first week of June) and then Luke will have All-Stars through the next week...or maybe through the month of June (if he gets selected for the "A" team).

In addition...

Ruth:
Science camp at her school - mornings only - first week of June
Summer fun at her school - mornings only - second week of June
Cub Scout Day Camp (since Richard is volunteering, she can go to the sibling unit) - morning to mid-afternoon - third week of June
Our parish's VBS - evenings - 4th week of June

Luke and Paul:
Cub Scout Day Camp - third week of June
Fitness Bible School at my fitness studio - mornings only - 4th week of June
Our parish's VBS - evenings - 4th week of June (Luke may not get to do this since he committed to All Stars)
Cub Scout overnight camp - 2nd week of July

JRod is getting married at the end of July, so we'll mini-vacation for that.

Mary's 1st birthday will be at the end of July (after the wedding)...the following Saturday we'll have a birthday party for her..and hopefully many family members will be able to come!

The first 2 weeks of August we plan to take a driving vacation up to Chicago to visit JFer.

We'll sprinkle is some trips to the lake here and there and, of course, there will be Summer Home School. 

I guess it mostly seems like I won't have all 4 home all day until July...that could be a good thing!